The present invention relates broadly to an apparatus for safely holding hook-leader combinations used for fishing. There have been various prior art fish hook and leader holders such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,596,896 (Goad); 2,744,353 (Adams); 2,670,564 (Keener); and 2,789,389 (Moen).
The patent to Moen shows one type of configuration wherein the barbed end of the hook has to be imbedded into a soft material for holding the hook in place and the leader line is tightly wound about the drum to provide the needed line tension to maintain the point imbedded in the soft pliable material. Similarly, Goad and Adams imbed the point of the hook into a soft material like balsa wood or sponge rubber. It would be better not to imbed the point of the fish hook into anything as such imbedding tends to dull the point; nor is it advisable to rely on a tight wrapping of the leader line to keep the hook in place because such tension in the leader line causes the line to coil when it is unwound. Keener users a different concept whereby the hook is passed through an opening and the leader line is then wrapped around the circumference of the holder.
None of the known prior art utilize the concept whereby the cylindrical configuration of the holder in combination with an eyelet type opening causes the sharpened or barbed end of the hook to be turned towards and into contact with a curved support surface when the eyelet end of the hook is pulled toward the curved surface by winding the leader line about the surface, and thus minimize the chance of the point of the hook from getting caught in the hand of the user, clothes of the user, other tackle, etc. during handling and normal storage conditions.